PORTLAND – Coming off a stunning, last-second overtime upset of top-seeded Southridge, No. 17 seed Benson could have had an emotional hangover in the quarterfinals of the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 6A boys basketball tournament Wednesday at the Chiles Center.
But the talented young Astros, the lowest seed to make the eight-team tournament since No. 20 Barlow in 2018, showed no signs of a letdown in dispatching eighth-seeded Clackamas 78-71.
“We got used to winning now. It's nothing new,” junior guard Richad Huston said. “We knew we could come in that game and win the game, and that's what we did. We know we've got to continue to win. The job's not done yet.”
Freshman guard Kendall Hopkins-McGlothen scored 25 points to lead Benson (22-6). Hudson had 13 points, five assists and five steals, sophomore wing Jaelyn Parnell-Patton had 13 points and sophomore guard Dreison Niko added 12 points in the win.
With one freshman and two sophomores in the starting lineup, the Astros are playing with poise beyond their years.
“I don't think that they realize the magnitude of it,” coach Earl Clark said. “They're so young and inexperienced. But they're up for the challenge.”
Benson, which shared the Portland Interscholastic League title with No. 10 Grant, will carry a 12-game winning streak into a Friday semifinal against No. 4 Tualatin (22-5). It will be the Astros' first semifinal since 2012, when they played in 5A.
“People make us the underdog, and I think we're showing that to be that rings don't matter,” said Hopkins-McGlothen, whose three-pointer at the buzzer knocked out Southridge 74-73 in the round of 16.
Benson trailed 16-9 before taking control. Behind the 6-foot-1 Hudson and 6-3 Hopkins-McGlothen, the Astros went on an 18-2 run spanning the first and second quarters to lead 27-18. They held a 40-30 edge at half.
“We've been in big games, but not on a big stage like this,” Hudson said. “So it took a little adjustment. But that's what our team does good. We adjust, and we adjusted. They came out hot, their shooters were shooting good, and we took that away from them.”
The Astros extended the lead to 58-38 late in the third quarter before Clackamas (18-10) responded with a furious rally. The Cavaliers outscored Benson 23-5 in the next six minutes, drawing within 63-61 on a dunk by senior forward Syrius Owens with 4:02 left in the game. R.J. Barhoum, a 6-5 junior guard, scored 12 of his game-high 28 points during the surge.
“We're brothers, we're family, and that just came from the love we have for each other,” Barhoum said of the comeback. “It was honestly a pride thing, like, we're not getting scored on, we're going to go down and get a great shot. We came back and made it a hell of a game.”
The Astros needed to regroup.
“I think it was a mental lapse, because we were up,” Hudson said. “We've got to keep our foot on the gas. I think we're going to do that next game.”
Clackamas got no closer, in part because of the steady hand of Hopkins-McGlethen, who produced two clutch baskets down the stretch. The lefty converted a step-through to make it 68-63, then dipped between two defenders and banked in a shot over their outstretched arms for a 70-66 lead with 1:05 left.
“That's what he does. He's Mr. Consistent,” Hudson said of Hopkins-McGlothen. “I can count on him every single time over anybody else.”
Like he did against Southridge, Hopkins-McGlothen rose to the occasion.
“He's just got a feel for the game,” Clark said. “You really can't coach that, necessarily. That's something between him and God. I'm just glad I get the opportunity to coach him.”
The big baskets were nothing new for Hopkins-McGlothen, who averages a team-high 19.3 points per game.
“I'm super grateful to come in here as a freshman and they trust me to take shots that nobody else probably would,” he said.
The Astros sealed the win by making all eight of their free-throw attempts in the final 25 seconds, two each by Hudson and Hopkins-McGlothen and four by Niko.
“Free throws is the name of the game when you start talking about winning big games like this,” Clark said. “The fact that we were able to knock down free throws when it mattered in the fourth quarter is the reason we came out with the lead.”
The sharpshooting Barhoum finished 9 of 22 from the field, including 4 of 14 from three-point range. Owens had 21 points and 13 rebounds and junior guard Max Martinov added 14 points and nine rebounds.
No. 4 Tualatin 68, No. 5 Sherwood 56: The Timberwolves (22-5), champions in 2022 and 2023, advanced to the semifinals for the fourth time in five seasons by turning back the Bowmen (23-5).
Junior guard Pat Vialva Jr. had 22 points, six rebounds and three steals and senior guard Jemai Lake had 17 points, six rebounds and three assists to lead Tualatin, which led wire to wire. Junior guard Carter Lemon added 14 points and four steals.
Sherwood, making its first state tournament appearance since playing in 5A in 2014, got 18 points from senior Brody Rygh and 17 points from junior Judah Dresser (three three-pointers). Junior guard Avery Johnson, the Pacific Conference player of the year, shot 2 for 12 and finished with six points and eight rebounds.
Tualatin scored the game's first seven points. Sherwood closed to within 18-17 on a tip-in by Rygh, but the Timberwolves opened a 34-25 halftime lead, getting a three-pointer from senior Elijah Casey in the final minute of the half.
Rygh's layup cut the lead to 49-46 early in the fourth quarter, but Tualatin responded with the next five points, getting a three-pointer by Lemon, to lead 54-46. The Bowmen got no closer.
No. 6 Jesuit 42, No. 3 Oregon City 38, OT: The Crusaders (21-7) rallied from a 14-point, third-quarter deficit to overtake the Pioneers (24-3) and advance to the semifinals for the second year in a row.
Senior guard Joe Stimpson had 21 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals and senior guard Ryan Barone added nine points for Jesuit. The Crusaders, runners-up last year, will meet No. 2 Central Catholic in the semifinals Friday.
Oregon City, which won the two previous meetings against Jesuit this season, led 28-14 when seniors Alijah Scott and Madden Sendek opened the second half with back-to-back three-pointers. The Crusaders surged back to within 34-30 on a jumper by Stimpson with 6:12 left in the game.
Pioneers junior wing Eli Hopkins drove the baseline for a dunk and a 38-32 lead with 4:54 left, but that would be the last points for Oregon City.
Stimpson tied it 38-38 on a free throw with 1:26 left and forced overtime with a steal on the last possession of regulation.
Jesuit junior Major Williams made made two free throws, then split two more, to put his team up 41-38 with 1:27 left in overtime. Oregon City had a chance to tie after calling timeout with 10.2 seconds left, but Hopkins misfired on a three-point attempt, junior Alarion Scott missed a putback, and the Crusaders rebounded.
Senior Sam Curvy split two free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining to make it 42-38.
Hopkins had 14 points and eight rebounds and Alarion Scott added 10 points and eight rebounds for Oregon City, which shot 2 of 18 from three-point range. In the last 8:54 of action, the Pioneers shot 0 for 8 from the field and had eight turnovers.
No. 2 Central Catholic 75, No. 10 Grant 55: The Rams (23-5), champions in 2024, trailed the young Generals (19-8) by nine points early in the second quarter before seizing control and advancing to the semifinals for the second time in three seasons.
Senior wing Jalen Nicholson shot 12 of 22 from the field and finished with 27 points and six rebounds for Central Catholic. The Rams also got big games from senior guard Robbie Long III (18 points, eight rebounds, three assists, four steals) and senior wing Donovan Miller (15 points, eight rebounds, three steals, three three-pointers).
Grant scored the first nine points of the second quarter to lead 20-11 and was still up 27-18 after a jumper by freshman Abraham Cogan with 2:57 left in the half.
Central Catholic cut the lead to 28-26 at half and took its first lead at 32-30 on a Long layup. A jumper by senior Zamir Paschal started a 16-0 run that Miller capped with a three-pointer, putting the Rams up 50-34 late in the third quarter.
Miller and junior guard Isaac Bongen drilled back-to-back triples to start the third quarter and extend the advantage to 59-38.
Cogan led Grant with 15 points, nine rebounds, two steals and one block. Sophomores Malik Mason and Jacob Harper-Grant added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Generals.
jerryu@osaa.org
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